Neverwinter Dev Blog: New Artifact Gear and Item Changes

With Neverwinter: Elemental Evil will come brand-new pieces of artifact gear that will be invaluable for questing through the Elemental Evil storyline as well as surviving the perilous level 70 dungeons. We recently had the chance to talk to the Neverwinter development team about the new artifact gear coming to Neverwinter and wanted to share our findings with our beloved community.

Holding onto gear that makes your character unique is something central in many pen-and-paper roleplaying games and this was something we wanted to bring to Neverwinter with the addition of artifact gear. Think of the mage with his trusty walking stick (that happens to shoot level 3 fireballs) or the Paladin with his bulwark of a shield (that can save his allies from near-death with a single word). At level 70, players will be able to obtain new artifact weapons through the Elemental Evil storyline: the weapons of Elemental Fire. These powerful artifacts will carry adventurers through the epic level content that awaits them.

While adventurers may find it difficult to say goodbye to their trusty Golden Dragon Weapon that has served them from level 60 to 70, they can take heart that refining their Golden Dragon Weapons into their Elemental Fire weapons will lead to a substantial gain in personal power. Artifact Weapons will also retain approximately 75% of their refinement level progress. Normal upgrade requirements such as refining stones and wards will still apply, however. Dungeon Delve rewards will also be changing in order to accommodate these new artifacts. In addition to the new artifact belts found in Valindra’s Tower and Lair of Lostmauth, adventurers will be able to look forward to finding higher quality refinement items in greater quantities at level 70. This will give adventurers more opportunities to obtain items that will further increase their artifacts’ power.

Elemental Evil will also usher in the change from Gear Score to Item Level. Item Level will be the new system on which all gear is rated. Entrance to dungeons will also be determined by the combined item level of their gear. Item Level’s main function is to give players an idea of how strong a particular item is at a glance. We decided to implement the Item Level system because we wanted to give players an easier method of determining the right gear for them. If an object’s Item Level is higher than another’s, it’s better— regardless of the item’s rarity.